European Fire Safety Alliance Fire safety in the domestic area challenges in the next years 17th EFA Rpundtable Brussels, 30th March 2017 European Fire Safety Alliance René Hagen, professor of Fire Safety

Topics European Fire Safety Alliance Fire safety challenges Fire safety challenges in the domestic area Fire safety targets in the domestic area

European Fire Safety Alliance (EFSA) Aims Campaign for better regulation in areas that improve home fire safety at a national and European level; Be an authority on fire risk built on a strong statistical evidence base; Focus on areas of greatest fire risk and the people most vulnerable to accidental fires; Support the fire service so they can be actively involved in reducing the risk from fire; Develop and nurture a fire professional network that will be seen as an area of expertise by policy makers and practitioners.

European Fire Safety Alliance (EFSA) Objectives 2017 Deliver effective home fire safety information and concerns through all social media Support and encourage research, studies and reports that highlight the dangers from fire in the home and support their widespread availability Deliver strong consistent messages on home fire safety by respected fire professionals through presentations and lectures Directly influence policy makers at national and EU level regarding measures to reduce the risk Recognising that the contents of a home are by far the major contributor to fire development and the production of toxic gases that cause death and injury, the FSP will campaign for safer furniture Grow, nurture and sustain and strong professional fire network that supports improvements in fire safety, with regular stakeholder meetings

Fire safety challenges Major fires in industrial buildings and warehouses Fatal fires in homes In the past: fire and fire spread were the main problem In the future: smoke and smoke spread is the main problem Smoke travels further than fire Smoke is no longer a combustion product but fire load

Basis for assessing the challenges (translated with financial support of EFSA)

Fire safety challenges in the domestic area Ageing Refugees / multicultural society Climate neutral houses New forms of energy Lack of statistics

Fire safety targets in the domestic area Fire safety education Fire safe upholstered furniture and matresses Improve effectiveness of smoke detectors Supporting with statistics

Fire safety education Education is needed for children, youth, elderly and immigrants The effectiveness of community fire safety activities should be measured EFSA is chair and sponsor of the 4th International Safety Education Seminar 2017 (June 7 and 8 Arnhem, Netherlands)

Fire safety education - seminar www.internationalsafetyeducationseminar2017.nl With speakers from: Netherlands United Kingdom Germany Denmark Belgium Iceland Finland

Fire safe upholstered furniture and mattresses Fire risks upholstered furniture Flame retardants Changes in standards Innovative solutions Recommendations by FEU (with contribution of EFSA) First mover

Fire safe upholstered furniture and mattresses – impression tests Temperature Oxygen Carbon monoxide Heat radiation Smoke spread Fire spread Object Time Heat release rate

Test 1 – foto impression

Test 3 – foto impression

Fire safe upholstered furniture and mattresses

Improve effectiveness of smoke detectors Current location, noise level and frequency is (no longer) effective 75% smoke detectors present, 45% work and 35% on the proper location Noise level of 65 dB to 75 dB Frequency of 3100 Hz to 520 Hz Location of corridors etc to living room and bedrooms EFSA plans to translate the report

European fire statistics There is no (comparable) European fire statistcs EFSA start this year bottom-up collecting fire statistics of fatal domestic fatal The base is the Dutch annual reoort on fatal domestic fires

European fire statistics Fire characteristics cause, object end room of origin, times of existing, alarming and responding, fire spread Building characteristics type of dwelling, year of built, ownership, influence of building materials and construction Human characteristics Living situation, where victims were and found, people characteristics, cause of death